Devil's Advocate
by lizard-senpai
Summary: "Via," said her captain's voice just before the blades came down, "Will you look after them?" "Of course, Captain." What if Ace was raised by someone other than Garp and Dadan? What if the someone had been on his father's crew? Meet Misuto D. Sylvia, Ace's god-mother.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece. I only own my OC and the story line.**

 **Prologue**

 **Logue Town**

Two people knelt upon a raised platform, their wrists bound by strange mannacles. One was a man with a mustache and a devilish grin, keeping his gaze on nothing in particular, a laugh rumbling out of his throat. The other was a woman who looked no older than twenty who looked into the crowd and latched onto a man there, her silver eyes contrasting violently with her warmly tanned skin. Four marines, two one either side of the prisoners, raised their swords.

Suddenly, a voice rang out from the crowd.

"OI! PIRATE KING! WHAT DID YOU DO WITH YOUR TREASURE?! IT'S ON THE GRAND LINE SOMEWHERE, ISN'T IT?!"

The woman smiled a bit, her eerily silver eyes shifting to look at the man in the crowd while her captain laughed. A marine tried to shout at the man and shut him up, but to no avail.

"You have it don't you?! The world's greatest treasure?! THE ONE PIECE?!" the man continued. Gol D. Roger's laughed grew until it boomed out across the courtyard where crowds had gathered to watch their executions, and the woman with silver eyes began to giggle as well.

"My treasure?" Roger began in amusement, "If you want it, I'll let you have it."

The tan skinned, silver eyed woman smiled as well, and in a soft, lilting voice she added, "Yes, just go find it. After all, we left all of it in that one place."

The next instant, the executioners had stabbed them both through. But that didn't matter to her. Death had never mattered to her.

"Via," said her captain's voice just before the blades came down, "Will you look after them?"

She had no need to answer him, for not only would he be dead before she could reply, but her captain already knew the answer. Still, she answered empty air as she dissolved herself into mist.

"Of course, Captain."

On that day, the execution of the Pirate King and true first mate, Misuto D. Sylvia, had been scheduled. Only the Pirate King could be successfully killed.

 **1 year later, Moby Dick**

Sylvia sat on the railings of the Moby Dick, letting the cold moonlight engulf her, sending goosebumps up her bare arms. Her face was solemn as she looked out over the sea, the weight of her duty laying heavily upon her shoulder's. She had to take care of her captain's son, but she was so completely out of her depth. The ageless woman had never been the nurturing type, and in truth, the only thing she was good at was fighting.

"You should get some sleep, yoi." A soft smile crept its way onto her face and she turned slightly to face her fellow immortal.

"So should you, Marco." The blonde pineapple of a man shrugged, moving forward and then resting his forearms on the railing, opting to look out over the sea. The former first mate of the Roger pirates sighed, silver eyes casting themselves upwards. She had the feeling she was in for a lecture. Marco always gave her lectures over stupid things.

"So, what is it this time?" she groaned, her tone joking. Marco the Phoenix just laughed a bit under his breath.

"Nothing, just thought you could use some company, yoi."

"Sure," she drawled, rolling her eyes. The man smirked at her, and she smirked back.

"Are you going to leave with the kid tonight, yoi?"

"...yeah. I'll go to the East Blue. Garp said he'd make sure no one bothered us there, and besides, it's the quietest sea. I doubt anyone there would be able to do much to me and Ace there." Marco just nodded in response, and they stayed in comfortable silence.

"I'll miss you," she whispered, not meeting his gaze. He chuckled at her, and then raised his large hands, ruffling her long, black hair to her annoyance.

"You say that like we're never going to see each other. You've got a Den Den; you can always just call, yoi."

"Yeah," she said, nodding, but her face was back in its serene solemness. The phoenix sighed, pushing himself off of the railing and retiring back to his quarters. It didn't go unnoticed by the man that a tear was sliding down the woman's cheek.

He didn't say anything about it.


	2. Chapter 1

**1: Parenthood**

 **Dawn Island, East Blue**

The sound of maniacal giggles filled the air around the small, semi-dilapidated cabin Garp had given them. Via growled in frustration as she attempted to grab her five year old terror of a god-son.

"Sonuvabitch, Ace! Get over here and take your bath!" the silver eyed woman roared. The child, with a surprising amount of dexterity, flipped her off, to the surprise of absolutely no one. Ace then ran off into the woods, still grinning from ear to ear.

"Bye, Mom! Be back later!" the boy called as he disappeared into the tree line.

"I'm not you mom, you little shit!" she screamed, but it was a moot point to her god-son. Since he had heard the term and its meaning, he had taken to naming her his mother under the logic that she did all of the "mom stuff" anyways, so she might as well deal with it. Damn cheeky kid.

"Well, don't you look lovely Via-chan. Not a day over twenty-three," came a laughing voice the the former pirate was in no mood for. With a glare that would've made any normal man soil himself and then run for his life, she turned to the smirking man.

"Go fuck yourself, Rayleigh," she spat, proceeding to go back inside her home and to the refrigerator. Sighing, Sylvia took out two beers, handing one of them to her old crewmate. He gratefully took it, then leaned against the kitchen counter as she sat in a shoddy wooden chair.

"So, to what do I owe the visit? Having marriage problems?" she joked. Rayleigh laughed and shook his head.

"No, just wanted to see what Roger's brat was like. He seems like a little shit." The woman snorted. Wasn't that the truth? Five years old and causing more problems than she cared to handle. Ace was a little demon, and she loved every bit of that. All the same, she wished the brat would take a bath every once in awhile. The kid reeked.

"Yeah. Tell me something I don't know."

"You really are a great parent, Via-chan. Rogue and Roger would be happy that you're the one raising their kid." Her face fell a bit, and she took a long pull from her bottle.

"They should be the ones raising him."

Rayleigh nodded in agreement, saying, "Yeah, but we can't change the past Via."

The woman laughed bitterly. Like she didn't know that. If it were possible, she would've changed how things went in a heartbeat. If it was in her power, Rogue would be alive and with Ace, and Sylvia would've been able to keep them _both_ safe.

Sensing her dark thoughts, Rayleigh changed the subject. With a smirk, he gestured out of the window, towards the forest where her god-son had run off to.

"So, are you not going to chase the kid?"

"Nope," Via said, popping the 'P', "Don't need to. The kid's resilient and I'd be able to sense if he was in trouble."

-:-

Ace ran through the forest, a grin plastered on his grubby face. Mom was going to be furious at him when he got back, but that was fine by him. She needed some time to hang out with the old guy (Rayleigh, his brain supplied) and it would be good for her to talk to someone other than him. In his mind, grown ups needed other grown ups to complain about the kids. Adversely, kids needed other kids to complain about the grown ups.

"Ace! What took you so long?" a voice called from the tree tops. The boy looked up to see the top hatted boy he called his best friend.

"Hey Sabo. Sorry 'bout that, my mom was tryna get me to take a bath." The blonde rolled his eyes in annoyance, but smiled all the same.

"Yeah, whatever. Wanna go steal some money from those mountain bandits?"

"Sure. I can show you this cool move Mom taught me."


	3. Chapter 2

**2: Bets and Brats**

 **Dawn Island, Ace: ten years old**

Misuto D. Sylvia had, at one point in time, been the most feared female on all the seas. She had faced more enemies than she could count, frightened off seakings with a glance, and was seemingly immortal. The woman had gained a reputation for her ruthless and cunning nature, and, most notably, she was known for being the second-in-command to the Pirate King.

This was a fact that Monkey D. Garp was either unaware of, had forgotten in his old age, or was just too stupid to fully grasp the situation he was placing before her. The irony of what he was doing when he brought his grandson to live with her was not lost on the former pirate, though she was trying to figure out whether the "Hero of the Marines" was being serious, especially when he revealed that his grandson, Luffy, desired to become the next Pirate King while Garp wanted him to be a Marine. The woman was still actively ignoring the fact that the boy was wearing her captain's hat, for she was certain she would lose any trace of seriousness is she let that fact sink in.

"So, lemme get this straight," she said, forcing herself not to laugh at the absurdity that was Garp, "You want me, a pirate, to raise your grandson to be a Marine?"

The man grinned, a trait that was synonymous with his family, and said, "Yep, unless you don't think you can handle raising a non-pirate."

The woman smiled, but a flare of prideful anger flared behind her silver eyes.

"Excuse me?" she said with a mask of calmness, pride instinctively reacting to the very conspicuous challenge, "Are you suggesting I'd be incapable of raising anyone other than a pirate?"

"Damn straight," Garp said, knowing the woman would take on the responsibility of raising Luffy.

"Oh, you're fucking on Garp. Just you watch, at least one of these brats ain't gonna be a pirate. Just you watch."

"Heh, as if!" he said, a loud burst of laughter booming from him. Via scowled, the tan skin of her jaw clenching around her tense muscles.

"How about a bet? If Ace or your grandkid aren't pirates, you owe me 10,000 beri for every year the kid was here. That means if it was Ace, you're paying me for every year he was alive, got me? Hell, I'll add the brat that hangs out with Ace in here for good measure!"

The Marine grinned, taking her hand in his own and shaking it with terrifying vigor.

-:-

Ace eyed the seven-year-old warily from his position in the trees. When he had returned home from his and Sabo's now weekly routine of terrorizing Dadan and her mooks, he found that his god-mother had taken in another child. The grandson of a Marine, no less.

Now, while Ace had never been taught to hate Marines (in fact, Via hardly ever spoke an ill word about the World Government directly) he could see the anger and bitterness that came into Via's face every time they were brought up. The woman was always trying to hide this from him, but Ace was very observant. Because of this, he resolved within himself to dislike the World Government for making his Mom look so sad when speaking of her old crew and his biological parents. He hated them for tainting what would otherwise be happy memories for Via.

Ace knew it was unfair to hate the kid for whom his grandfather was, he knew he was being hypocritical since that's why his mother had died, but even so, he couldn't bring himself to like Luffy. So, when the little boy with a straw hat and a sunny grin came following after him when he went looting with Sabo, he made it his personal mission to make the little boy's life hell, leading him through the most potentially traumatizing paths possible. Still, he never led the boy through areas that would get him killed and though he would never admit it, he'd feel guilty if the younger boy died.

 **A/N: Hey, people! I just wanted to thank everyone for favoriting, following, and reviewing! I'm kinda surprised, tbh. Also, sorry for the time skips that have been happening; my ideas for this story are all over the place right now lol. If there's something you want to see happen interaction wise, let me know, since I'll probably add it in. Anyways, I wanted to address some questions a guest reviewer had: don't worry, I won't forget about Dadan and them, but they will play a much smaller role here. Sabo might not move in for a while, but he will move in soon(ish). As you can see, Luffy has been dropped off and hijinks will ensue. Hope you all liked the chapter, and always feel free to review or PM me about the story!**

 **~Lizard-senpai**


	4. Chapter 3

**3: Exasperated Rescue Party**

Via couldn't, in good conscious, say she trusted her god-son. He was her captain's son, afterall, and Roger had been the most difficult bastard she had ever met. Still, she liked to believe Ace was at the very least a decent kid, despite his many behavioural faults. She was the first to admit she was rather biased towards this subject (raising someone from infancy tends to do that to a person) but still, at her core she knew the kid was an alright person.

So, you can imagine her simultaneous anger and nerve-wracking terror as the blonde hellion Ace ran about the forest came to her in a panic, shouting in incomprehensible ramblings that Luffy had been kidnapped and Ace was trying to save him, although it was Ace's fault he had been kidnapped in the first place. Her heart swelled with rage and her stomach sank, and while she certainly didn't have the medical expertise of Crocus, she knew that couldn't be good for her health.

Scooping up the blonde brat, Sabo, she demanded he point her in the direction of her two charges. With a dutiful loyalty, he did so, somehow managing to keep up with the blurring surroundings caused by the breakneck pace Via had set. It hadn't taken long for them to come to the seaside shack.

Setting down the boy, who promptly vomited upon being released to stable ground, Via stormed into the shack. Anger and intimidation rolled off of her like tsunami-like waves, crashing into the men the instant they tried to apprehend her. Silver eyes swerved around the room, coming upon the sight of a broken and bloodied Luffy and a bruised and staggering Ace.

Luffy's eyes lit up with assured hope and trust as he saw her, and he sent her a relieved grin that broke her heart. Ace, to her mounting anger, refused to meet her gaze, his head hung in shame as he helped to support Luffy and slipped out of the hut.

"Ace."

Her voice stopped him dead in his tracks, and he sighed, meeting her silver eyes. The disappointment he found there told him all he needed to know. Ace nodded, before he and Luffy trudged out.

Via, then turned her attention to the scumbags that had hurt her boys. With and eerie, predatory grin, she unsheathed the blades hidden in her sleeves.

"Now, which of you bastards did that to Luffy?" she purred, twirling her knives as she approached at a sedate pace. The shivered and cowered before her, but one of them, and ugly bastard with light purple hair, managed to open his mouth and speak.

"T-those brats started it! They-they stole our money. Nobody can mess with the B-Bluejam pirates and ge-get away...with...it…" He trailed off as Sylvia started to chuckle darkly.

"Is that so?" she said in a dangerously measured voice, finally stopping her approach directly before him. The man collapsed to his knees as Via's silver eyed glare put the fear of God into him. She knelt down to his level, and trailed one of her knives across his cheek, drawing blood. Via gave him a pretty, her eyes closing, though the act was belied by her sinister aura and the position of her second knife to his abdomen.

"Would you like to know something?" she said, driving the point of the knife at his abdomen in slowly. The man whimpered piteously as she started to twist the knife, "Nobody hurts the sons of a New World pirate and gets away with it, and especially not scum unworthy to lick the soles of my shoes."

He knife stabbed through him with a sickening squelch, and whatever stupor the man's comrades had been in broke violently. The tried to run, but it was and ultimately futile act. Misuto D. Sylvia's deadly smile broke, giving way to an expression of calculated fury. As she ended the men swiftly and efficiently.

Three boys, one reeling from motion sickness and two unsteady from a beating, could hear the pitiful begging and hopeless pleas for mercy. None of them spoke of it. Not even as Via stepped out of the shack, a calm expression on her face and blood staining her body. The woman closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and when she opened her eyes they were kinder.

"Come on boys, let's go home. You too Sabo, it would be dangerous for you to be around here once their captain gets word of this."

If all three of the boys had a newfound respect and fear for the woman Ace called mother, none of them spoke of it.

 **A/N: So, from this point onwards, the story is going to be more like drabbles. If there is anything you would like to see happen, I will take requests or suggestions. As always, feel free to review and I hope you enjoyed this chapter.**

 **~Lizard-senpai**


	5. Update

AN UPADATE FOR ALL OF MY FICS:

I have decided that I'm going to give up writing fanfiction in favour of focusing on my original works. I still enjoy writing fanfiction, but I don't really have the time nor energy to focus on all the projects here. On top of that, my writing style has changed drastically as of late, and keeps evolving at a very fast pace. Since I'm generally slow to update, there tend to be gaps between my style that are caused by how long it's been since I've written a story.

This isn't saying that I'm completely giving up on writing fanfiction, since I might update things sporadically/as the mood strikes me, but I am giving the warning that I might in the future.

Thank you for your support of these stories. It really means a lot to me.

~Lizard-senpai


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